Primary and Secondary Marketing Research free essay sample

Primary and Secondary Marketing Research When looking to add a new product to the market, traditionally five steps occur in marketing research and lead to marketing actions. Of these five steps, step number three covers the collection of marketing data. Marketing data can be collected through either primary research or secondary research. The goal of this assignment is to describe both primary and secondary research, provide examples of each and determine how the author’s organization could benefit from each. The author will begin with a description of primary marketing research. Primary Marketing Research, benefits to the organization, and examples What is primary marketing research? Primary marketing research is a study conducted when no historical data is available. â€Å"The two principal ways to collect new or primary data for a marketing study are by (1) observing people and (2) asking them questions. †(Kerin, R. A. , Hartley, S. W. , Berkowitz, E. N. , and Rudelius, W. We will write a custom essay sample on Primary and Secondary Marketing Research or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page , 2006) When the researcher is determining what method to use, they must consider the type of data that they are collecting. Data that is collected by observation includes both physical and mechanical collection methods. For instance, a website can tally up the number of hits to determine the popularity of a site and an example of physical observation would be setting up a controlled experiment and watching the individual’s choice. Primary research data can also be collected by surveying or questioning the consumer. Care must be taken when developing a survey to ensure that the questions are not too leading or too ambiguous. The benefits of conducting either method of primary marketing research to the organization are to give the company a clearer picture of how well the organizations product is meeting consumer expectations. It can also lead to product improvements that the organization may not have considered. The author’s organization can use primary research to gather marketability data. This can be obtained through measuring the amount of orders that are accepted versus the number that are rejected as a form of observational research. They can also measure this through sending out a survey to customers who did not accept the organizations quote. Survey questions can include reasons for the quote being rejected, such as cost, quote turnaround time, and delivery lead time. One of the major advantages f primary data is that it can be â€Å"more specific to the problem being studied† (Kerin, R. A. , Hartley, S. W. , Berkowitz, E. N. , and Rudelius, W. , 2006) and one of the main disadvantages is the cost associated and time associated with collection. So what is the difference between primary and secondary research? Secondary Marketing Research, benefits to the organization, and examples Se condary market research can be gathered from either internal or external data. Internal secondary data includes items like defect reports, historical performance measures, and sales data. External secondary data are items that are collected outside of the organization. This includes data such as industrial sales numbers and averages (Kerin, R. A. , Hartley, S. W. , Berkowitz, E. N. , and Rudelius, W. , 2006). Many organizations use this form of external data to benchmark their position in relationship to others within their industry. They can also use external secondary data to calculate percentages and ratios for comparison purposes. In the earlier example within primary marketing research, the organization was able to use primary marketing data collection to rate how the organization was performing on win to lose ratios. While these independent measures help with internal monitoring, secondary research within the industry allows the organization to set goals based on industrial averages. If the organization collects data and finds out that the main loss of new opportunities is based on delivery lead time, and the organization has a standard lead time of 10-12 weeks, the next step would be to compare the primary research to a secondary set of industry data. If the industrial average (secondary marketing research) is at 4-6 weeks then the organization can understand why they are losing business and make adjustments. The main advantage of secondary marketing research is that it takes less time to compile and no additional costs are associated with collection. The disadvantage is of course, that the data does not conform to specific requirements and the data may be dated. Conclusion In order to market an organization there must be a balance of primary and secondary research. Primary research allows for unique measures to be taken and is specific to the organization but, it can be an expensive and time consuming.